Text | Reporter Shen Yang
"In judicial practice, the people's courts insist on active justice, strengthen the linkage between the government and the courts, gather the joint force of the source of litigation, sink the power to urban and rural communities, send services to the grassroots frontline, and earnestly do the work at the source of disputes, so as to ensure that the contradictions are resolved at the grassroots level and in the bud, which is worthy of praise. Hu Bingliang, deputy director of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters.
"The national conditions of the mainland determine that we cannot become a 'litigation power'. In recent years, the people's courts have insisted on putting the non-litigation dispute resolution mechanism at the forefront, closely relying on the leadership of the Party committee, turning the passive into the active, strengthening the governance at the source, extending the "mediation" of the docking of litigation and mediation, and striving to resolve disputes before litigation, so as to "grasp the front end and treat the disease before it happens".
On March 9, the Supreme People's Court held a series of all-media live interviews on the interpretation of the "Work Report of the Supreme People's Court" of the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress in 2024. Zhou Jiahai, director of the Research Office of the Supreme People's Court, explained the new measures and progress of the people's courts in the management of the source of actual litigation online.
On March 9, the Supreme People's Court held the second interview in the series of all-media live broadcasts of the "Work Report of the Supreme People's Court" of the 2024 National People's Congress and the Two Sessions, introducing the effectiveness of "grasping the front end and curing the disease before it happens" and doing a good job in the management of litigation sources
Zhou Jiahai said that "grasping the front end and curing the disease before it happens" is the proper meaning of active justice, and it is also an inevitable requirement to achieve "win-win, multi-win, and win-win" and "the case is closed". "Grasping the front end and curing the disease before it happens" is one of the most fundamental and core requirements of the concept of active justice in the new era.
Prevent "small things from dragging on and big things from exploding"
"Clear springs flow on the grasslands, antelopes run on the high mountains......" In the "Dongbula Mediation Room" of the Karamagai People's Court of the Fuhai County People's Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the judge plays the Dongbula and explains the reasoning, the law, and the breakthrough to the parties to the dispute. The melodious music bridged the gap between hearts and minds, and a conflict caused by vicarcity was successfully resolved.
A hotline is directly connected to the court, a mobile app contacts judges around the clock, a workstation intensively handles the judicial demands of the masses, and a team of judges has achieved full coverage of 15 street circuits...... In the face of the issue of grassroots governance in the capital's megacity, the Beijing Xicheng District People's Court has made the expression of public demands more smooth, so that litigation services can reach the masses directly.
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From the western frontier of the motherland to the eastern coast, from the mountainous grassland to the bustling metropolis, this is a practice of litigation source management in which courts across the country participate together, going deep into the masses to serve and resolve conflicts and disputes on the spot.
Even if the conflict and dispute reaches the court, it does not mean that it must be "brought to court".
"The people's choice to go to the court to 'litigate' is a manifestation of the increased awareness of the law, and also reflects the people's trust in the judicial organs. However, it should be recognized that litigation is by no means the only avenue for resolving disputes, let alone the best means. Zhou Jiahai said.
"Since ancient times, our country has had a tradition of 'valuing harmony,' attaching importance to interpersonal harmony, neighborhood harmony, and family harmony; reflected in the field of justice and law, there has always been a culture of 'no lawsuits' or even 'lawsuit-averse' and 'shameful lawsuits', believing that we should not 'go to court' unless we have to, so as not to lose both sides and lose more than we lose. Zhou Jiahai said.
In addition, from the perspective of social governance, in recent years, the number of cases accepted by the people's courts has been rising, and the contradiction of "many cases and few cases" has become increasingly prominent. Since 2013, the total number of court cases nationwide has grown rapidly at an average annual rate of 13%, an increase of 2.4 times in 10 years. In 2023, the average number of cases handled by judges nationwide will reach 357 per year.
"This means that judges across the country do not rest all year round, and each person has to complete an average of one case per day. This is undoubtedly a huge practical pressure that we need to face seriously. Zhou Jiahai introduced.
Zhou Jiahai said that "management of the source of litigation" is to realize the management of the source of litigation, and to use mediation and other non-litigation dispute resolution methods to resolve the contradictions and disputes that have arisen in a timely manner, so as to avoid the intensification of contradictions and the formation of lawsuits; at the same time, it is necessary to effectively prevent all kinds of contradictions and disputes, especially the recurrence of similar contradictions and disputes in "batches" through scientific management and management.
Zhou Jiahai believes that "grasping the front end, treating the disease before it happens, and doing a good job in the management of the source of litigation" is not just to relieve pressure on the courts and judges. Looking deeper, if this work is done well, it can effectively prevent "small things from dragging on and big things from exploding", and can enhance social harmony and stability, which is not only conducive to reducing the people's litigation burden, but also conducive to promoting the modernization of national governance and social governance, which is an inevitable requirement and important embodiment of the in-depth implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law.
Let the dispute be substantively resolved before litigation
In February 2023, patient Zhang and a hospital applied to the Dalian Medical Dispute Mediation Committee of Liaoning Province for mediation through the people's court's mediation platform due to a dispute over medical damage liability. After many times of patient mediation by professional mediators, the doctor and the patient reached a mediation agreement and submitted it to the Zhongshan District People's Court of Dalian City, Liaoning Province online through the platform for judicial confirmation. Subsequently, the court issued a civil ruling, confirming the validity of the agreement reached between the parties.
The successful resolution of this doctor-patient dispute is a microcosm of the people's courts' in-depth work on the management of litigation sources in 2023. This year, the "Flower of the Orient" is more fragrant and famous.
This "flower of the Orient" is mediation. It is an original non-litigation dispute resolution method in mainland China to resolve conflicts, resolve disputes, and promote harmony.
In 2023, there will be an average of 73,000 online mediation of disputes on the people's court's mediation platform every working day, and an average of 100 disputes will be successfully resolved before litigation every minute.
What is "mediated" is contradictions and disputes, and what is "resolved" is the will of the people and the will of the people. Over the past year, courts at all levels have strengthened operational guidance for people's mediation work, closely cooperating with judicial-administrative organs and mediation organizations to promote the solid and effective development of mediation work, and promote the resolution of a large number of contradictions and disputes at the grassroots level and in the bud. It can be said that the "line of defense" of people's mediation resolves a large number of contradictions and disputes before litigation is concluded, and provides strong support for the people's courts to grasp "fairness and efficiency".
In September 2023, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the "Opinions on Giving Full Play to the Basic Role of People's Mediation and Promoting the Governance of Litigation Sources", aiming to put prevention first, give priority to mediation, apply the rule of law, and resolve on the spot, so as to reduce the increase in litigation at the source.
On October 8, 2023, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Justice jointly convened a national mediation work conference to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, especially the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on mediation work, summarize and exchange the effectiveness and experience of mediation work, and study and deploy tasks and measures to promote mediation work in the new era and new journey.
In order to promote the substantive resolution of more disputes before litigation, in 2023, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Working Rules for Entrusted Appraisals in Pre-litigation Mediation (Trial)" to promote more effective pre-litigation mediation and deepen the governance of the source of litigation.
In order to strengthen efforts to govern sources of litigation in key areas, in 2023, the Supreme People's Court drafted the Guidelines on the Governance of Sources of Litigation in Key Areas (1), proposing feasible governance measures based on the causes and characteristics of cases in key areas, listing typical experiences and practices, and providing judicial recommendations for reference, striving to provide policy guidance for local courts and people's mediation organizations.
To effectively activate the grassroots dispute resolution service network and prevent and resolve conflicts and disputes from the source, it is worth mentioning the in-depth promotion of the people's court's mediation platform "into the villages, communities, and grids".
Chongzuo City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is located in the southwest border and is a border port city with a large number of Zhuang ethnic groups and many ethnic groups.
Conflicts and disputes involving border areas and ethnic minorities are often characterized by language communication barriers and large differences in folk culture, and it is difficult to mediate and resolve them. In the past three years, the success rate of pre-litigation mediation of conflicts and disputes involving border areas and ethnic minorities has reached 90%, and the average mediation time does not exceed 48 hours.
According to reports, the border villages "Du Lao" and "Benong", grid personnel, border guards, border assistant managers, etc., are proficient in strong Chinese bilingual, and are familiar with border customs and folk customs. The courts at the two levels of Chongzuo City have widely absorbed these mediation forces and settled in the mediation platform of the people's court, realizing the full coverage of the mediation platform to all border villages and ethnic minority villages. In addition, at the ports and border people's mutual markets, the courts at the two levels of Chongzuo City have also introduced Vietnamese personnel or businessmen who are familiar with the Vietnamese language as specially invited mediators to efficiently resolve border trade disputes.
Where the needs of the masses are, the judicial services of the people's courts will follow.
According to the relevant person in charge of the case filing division of the Supreme People's Court, in 2023, the Supreme People's Court will issue the "Notice on Further Deepening and Implementing the Work of the People's Court's Mediation Platform "Into the Village, Community, and Grid" to the courts across the country, upgrading the litigation source governance function of the people's court's mediation platform, increasing the entrance for grassroots governance units to prevent and resolve disputes on their own, and clearly putting forward the goal of reaching more than 50% of the docking rate by the end of June 2024, and promoting more conflicts and disputes to be resolved at the grassroots level and in the bud.
In 2023, courts across the country will mediate a total of 11.998 million disputes by appointing people's mediation, administrative mediation, and professional mediation before litigation, accounting for 40.3% of the total number of civil and administrative cases brought to court in the same period. On the one hand, this shows that mediation and other non-litigation dispute resolution methods have indeed played an important role, and on the other hand, it also shows that there is still a lot of room for efforts to grasp the front end and the source. Zhou Jiahai said frankly.
The "circle of friends" for dispute resolution is constantly expanding
Scan the "Zhejiang Dispute Resolution Code" to enter the first online entrance for conflict resolution in Zhejiang Province. After the dispute arises, it is first pushed to the platform, and the social mediation force will resolve it first, and the mediation success will promote immediate performance, and at the same time, it can apply for judicial confirmation in accordance with the law, and if the mediation fails, it will be sent to the people's court for filing.
At present, the number of visits to this small "Zhejiang Dispute Resolution Code" has reached 15,995,600 times, 925,000 intelligent consultations have been provided, 3,275,900 mediation cases have been mediated, and the success rate of mediation has reached 51.04%, resolving a large number of contradictions and disputes at the front end.
This is a vivid portrayal of the national courts taking the initiative to integrate into the comprehensive management pattern, establishing a diversion and resolution path, and actively cooperating with the joint investigation and linkage of relevant functional departments.
The people's courts are not only the adjudicators of cases, but also those who extend their adjudication functions, do their mediation guidance duties, and provide solutions for source governance and diversified dispute resolution. Faced with the proposition of the times that "we cannot become a 'big country in litigation'", the people's court gave the idea of "strengthening the governance of litigation sources".
In recent years, the Supreme People's Court has established a "general-to-general" contradiction and dispute prevention and resolution mechanism with 13 units, including the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
In the past year, the achievements of the "general to general" construction have continued to consolidate, mediation resources at all levels have been maximized, and precise diversion, video mediation, online confirmation, online case filing, and full-cycle and closed-loop dispute resolution chain services are being fully realized nationwide.
In 2023, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the Notice on Establishing a "General-to-General" Online Litigation and Mediation Docking Mechanism for Civil Disputes in the Field of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and carried out pilot work in Guangdong and other provinces and cities to promote the prevention and front-end resolution of conflicts and disputes in the field of housing and urban-rural development.
"Total-to-general" cooperation is moving from pluralistic dispute resolution to pluralistic co-governance. In 2023, the Supreme People's Court and the "general-to-general" cooperation units will establish a quarterly consultation mechanism, relying on the analysis of typed dispute mediation data, to promptly discover the shortcomings and weaknesses of governance at the source in various fields, and explore effective paths for governance.
In 2023, a total of 1,944,600 disputes will be mediated by the "general to general" cooperative units. Among them, 1,511,900 disputes were successfully resolved before litigation, and the average mediation time was only 9.93 days. "In the next step, we will continue to expand the 'circle of friends' of the 'total to total' mechanism. Zhou Jiahai said.
In addition, in 2023, local courts will also explore the method of "point-to-point" docking, and widely invite social forces such as people's congress deputies, CPPCC members, people's mediation, and administrative mediation to participate in pre-litigation mediation, so as to promote the timely and efficient resolution of social conflicts and disputes in accordance with the law on the track of the rule of law.
Make a pot of Minnan gongfu tea, chat calmly, and disputes can be easily resolved. In 2023, the CPPCC members of Jinjiang Building Materials and Ceramics Industry Association in Fujian Province will be inaugurated and established, and the Jinjiang Municipal People's Court will explore a new model of "two-way contact" with the CPPCC, and invite members of the CPPCC at the provincial, municipal and county levels, who are influential in the field of building materials and ceramics industry, to participate in case mediation and industry litigation source management.
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Since 2018, as of the end of December 2023, a total of 105,200 mediation organizations and 417,900 mediators across the country have connected with the four levels of courts, and a total of 33.52 million pre-litigation disputes have been successfully mediated.
The key to the sustainable development of mediation lies in people.
In 2023, the Supreme People's Court will further increase the training and guidance of mediators, and carry out the third quarter of the national mediation practice live video training, which has effectively solved the problems of limited offline training venues, insufficient funds, and small coverage of trainees in the past. A total of 209,600 mediators participated in the training, with a maximum of 31,900 people trained at a time, vigorously promoting the establishment of a group of mediation teams with a high level of professionalism and strong ability to do mass work, and further enhancing the level of ability to participate in the management of litigation sources.
Promote the improvement of the national and social governance system
After adjudicating a case, the people's court promptly discovers management loopholes and puts forward relevant judicial recommendations for similar conflicts and disputes that occur frequently and frequently in the same field, which is also an important aspect of the management of litigation sources.
"The people's courts handle tens of millions of cases every year, and if we deeply analyze the reasons for the high and frequent occurrence of a certain type of case, we can find out the deep-seated reasons. On this basis, we put forward suggestions for improvement to the relevant units. This can not only prevent and reduce conflicts and disputes, but also promote the improvement of the national and social governance system. Zhou Jiahai said.
Since February 2023, the Kezuohouqi People's Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has accepted 142 cases of agricultural insurance contract disputes in a short period of time. The judge's investigation found that the cause of the case was that the local government suffered severe floods in the summer of 2022, and the farmers were seriously damaged, and they were dissatisfied with the insurance claim plan before filing a lawsuit. After further assessment, the judge found that the number of farmers who could potentially file a lawsuit was actually more than 10,000.
In this regard, the Kezuohouqi Court issued a judicial recommendation to the local government on risk prevention and control on the issue of agricultural insurance compensation. Based on judicial recommendations, the local government has taken targeted measures to ensure that a large number of conflicts and disputes are resolved before litigation. This not only reduces the people's burden of litigation, but also reduces the pressure on the courts to handle cases, and also effectively prevents risks and hidden dangers that affect social stability and harmony.
This is another example of "win-win, multi-win, win-win" through "working together to govern".
In order to ensure the standardized development of relevant work, in November 2023, the Supreme People's Court specially formulated the "Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Work of Judicial Recommendations for Comprehensive Governance", emphasizing that the formulation and issuance of judicial recommendations must follow the principle of necessity, that is, it must adhere to the problem-oriented and targeted, and must not be "issued for the sake of issuance" and rush forward, and has made comprehensive and detailed provisions on the procedures and standards for relevant work.
So, after the case is formally filed, how can the people's court achieve "source management"?
Zhou Jiahai said that the referee should be fair and proper. If there are problems in the adjudication itself, appeals, appeals, petitions, petitions, etc., will be unavoidable, and a "source of litigation" will be artificially created. In order for adjudication to substantively resolve disputes, the people's courts must strive to pursue "the case is closed" with the awareness of "as if I am suing", and cannot "close the case". In addition, the people's courts should also ensure that the same case is adjudicated in the same case. To this end, the Supreme People's Court has taken a variety of measures, including the release of judicial interpretations, policy documents, guiding cases, typical cases, etc., and recently launched the People's Court Case Database and the Legal Answer Network.
On the new journey, the people's courts will adhere to and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, promote the governance of litigation sources with the active judiciary in the new era, provide the people with multi-channel, high-efficiency and low-cost dispute resolution methods, and finally realize "the case is settled, the government is harmonious", and contribute to the construction of a higher level of peace and rule of law in China.
Cover and table of contents of this issue
China Trial, Issue 5, 2024
China Trial News Semi-Monthly No. 339
Editor/Xu Chang